


pretending

by ace8013



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers Feels, Character Death, F/M, Gen, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 11:19:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12910836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ace8013/pseuds/ace8013
Summary: Natasha reflects on what she noticed.





	pretending

**Author's Note:**

> Wow IW is gonna be my cause of death

Things were different.

That they could be sure of.

But nothing is ever  really permanent, is it? Seasons change and with them so do things, situations and people.  Maybe it's a completely new relationship, or something as simple as a haircut.

Something happened, and it changed them. Some for better, some for worse. 

She was happy with it, for the most part. During her brief stint in Wakanda she had dyed her hair. No one had adapted to it yet. Which was fine, because she hadn't adapted to Thor's hair yet either.

She was happy Bruce was back, for sure. But he too had changed. He never delved into detail about what happened to him and Thor, and she never asked. They were at a happy medium, among the chaos.

* * *

  


She gripped the shoulder of his jacket a little tighter.

"Jesus Nat, you're gonna cut off my blood flow." He whispered.

"Three years Bruce. Three years." she spoke  quietly , pulling away to look him in the eyes, but not letting go.

"It wasn't three years exactly-" he attempted.

"It might as well have been." A long silence. She put her head against his chest. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

Silence. The two of them, there in that corridor, hugging, breathing each other in and making up for lost time.

"Okay, it was definitely not three years-"

She cut him off, lips on lips.

* * *

  


In the time they'd been gone, Tony had replaced them with a fifteen year old boy. His name was Peter and he was a nice, smart boy. Something about him bothered Steve, but his presence made Tony happy, so no one ever objected.

Clint cried every night. She pretended not to know about it. Especially after realizing that he was afraid that his youngest son was going to have to grow up without a dad.

Tony had nightmares, too. One too many times she heard him bustling around at the early hours of the morning. And she knew what they were about. She knew because of the way he doted over Peter, and the way he flinched whenever Steve so much as raised a hand. She knew exactly what his nightmares featured.

She pretended not to notice when Peter- er,  Spider-Man  cried over the wreckage of a highschool, and when he revealed his identity, so a teenager could use his mask to stop her bleeding  .

She pretended not to notice when some of the things Steve said edged on suicidal. He'd always talked like that,  just a little bit. It got worse after Siberia, but he couldn't afford to worry about himself.

She pretended not to notice when Thor didn't speak for five days after he and Bruce's arrival. She later learned Loki was gone. For real this time.

She pretended not to notice the way Tony screamed, sobbed, and clawed at Peter's broken body. When Steve and Sam pulled him away, she pretended not to notice the way Peter's eyes stared at the stars, unmoving.

She pretended not to notice when the man slumped beside her, Buck Barnes stopped breathing . Or when soon after, Steve Rogers stepped  directly into the line of fire, to save Tony Stark seconds. Seconds that saved Tony's life. Seconds that cost Rogers his.

She pretended not to notice when she, Banner, Stark, Barton, Wilson and Thor were the only ones left to celebrate their victory .

She pretended not to notice the way Bruce looked at her when he thought she couldn't see him. 

They way he would ask, "Are you okay?"

"Always." She would reply with a smile.

She had changed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> welp


End file.
